San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan: ten miles by
collective taxi or auto from Acayucan, south of
Veracruz

Location: 19*26.60' N, 99*5.60' W               
Near Coatzacoalcos and Acayucan
Culture:  Olmec
Area: Spread over three small villages along
the river estuary,  1200 acres
Date:  Occupied from 1500 to 400 BC       
Peak occupation 1200BC - 900BC
Construction: artificial earthen plateaus and
mounds
Population: 15,000
Museum: Small, with single stone Olmec
remaining of the ten found at the site.
sculptured head, other sculptures.
Fee:  
Hours: Museum  8:AM  to 3: PM
Notable Features:
Archaeological features will escape all but the
trained eye. The museum, however, is worth
the visit.
First excavated by Archaeologist Mathew Stirling in 1941 and later by
Archaeologists Michael Coe and Richard Diehl in 1967, the site as mapped by the
Coe expedition shows artificial enlargement and the building up of the earth to
form plateaus beside the river.  The settlement was once on an island in the
Coatzacoalcos River drainage system.  
An extensive system of basalt tiles, some of which are in the small museum at the
site, show engineering prowess  by the inhabitants of the Olmec settlement and
have been proposed as aqueducts for carrying potable water.

At San Lorenzo, excavators found ten Colossal heads sculpted from  blocks of
basalt that had been hauled 60 miles from the Tuxtla mountains to the site which at
the time was in the midst of the Coatzacoalcos River.  

Head # 1 of 17 so far found in Mexico and numbered in the order of discovery,  is
at the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa, (Jalapa) the capital of Veracruz
State.
Unusual black stones with holes that could be fishing net weights have puzzled
researcher and visitor alike. One theory proposed is that they are iron ore devices
used to generate sound, others have them as fishing weights, others as body
armor.

Archaeological features in the farming village of San Lorenzo are not evident; the
museum, however, is worth the visit for devotees of the Olmec.
Sculptures found at the San Lorenzo and La Venta sites have been moved to the
La Venta Museum in Villa Hermosa and the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa.
San Lorenzo, Olmec Homeland, Veracruz  State, Mexico
San Lorenzo, Olmec Homeland
Veracruz, Mexico
The large Olmec heads have been moved to the
museum in Jalapa
The small Museum in the village of
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan
To protect the Olmec Heads of
San Lorenzo from farming
activities and to preserve
others at La Venta from oil
development, the large Olmec
heads have been moved to the
museum in Jalapa Veracruz
State and to the La Venta
Museum in Villa Hermosa,
Tabasco State
Reaching San Lorenzo and the Olmec Homeland:
Bus out of Mexico City Tapo or Norte for Veracruz.  From Veracruz head to Coatzacoalcos or
Minatitlan south east of Catemaco.  Then head by local bus to Acayucan where you get a collective taxi
for the ten miles to the small farming village of San Lorenzo.  (San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan.   Just Tenochtitlan
on some maps)
From Oaxaca , ADO first Class bus to  Coatzacoalcos or Minatitlan bus to Acayucan, taxi to San Lorenzo.

Have lots of small change for taxis and water. (5 and 10 peso, 20 peso max.)  Cash is scarce in remote
areas of Mexico
Custom Search
San Lorenzo, the Olmec Homeland Veracruz  
State, Mexico produced large stone sculptured
heads.
One remains in the museum at the village of San
Lorenzo Tenochtitlan in Veracruz near
Coatzacoalcos. Other heads were moved to
Jalapa.  
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan as it is now called was the ancient Olmec Homeland in what is now Veracruz  
State, Mexico.  The San Lorenzo Olmec culture produced large stone sculptured heads, many of which
have been moved to the anthropology museum in Jalapa, Veracruz.
One remains in the museum at the village of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan in Veracruz near Acayucan and
the Coatzacoalcos River.
This altar now thought to be a throne was found at the Olmec site of
La Venta in Tabasco State and later move to the museum of La
Venta in Villahermosa.